Petunia's Letter
by sadsadcity
Summary: "Her cries began to subside, and she struggled to catch her breath. When she spoke, she hiccupped, saying, "W-why is s-s-she so…s-so cruel...?" And the thought of her sister broke the early dam Lily had begun constructing, as she gripped his hair more forcefully and let out another heart-breaking sob." One-shot.


On Thursday evening at dinner, James realized that he hadn't seen her since Advanced Potions, 8:30 that morning. She was quiet and distant throughout the class period, not making much conversation with him or her friends surrounding her. Her eyes, dull and expressionless, matched the heavy bags shadowing her lower lashes—dark and _exhausted_. Her hair was tied back in a messy ponytail, one that she probably hadn't redone since she last put it up. _Had she been sleeping the last couple of nights?_ Most of all, her weak, forced smiles etched crinkles and lines on her face that told James she had been worrying about something for the past few nights.

"All right, Prongs?" Remus questioned. James met his friend's gaze and, knowing it was useless to lie to a bloke who's known him for seven years, shook his head. He sighed and reached up to massage the bridge of his nose.

"Lily's been…_off_," James said. "Haven't you noticed?"

Sirius, who had been helping himself with second servings of kidney pie, peered over his shoulder at his best mate. "It's almost N.E.W.T.'s week, Prongs, she's probably just stressed." Peter nodded in agreement.

James shook his head again. "No, it's different. She's sad. I can tell."

"Well…what is it, then?" Sirius asked.

James had been trying to figure that out ever since she didn't come down for breakfast two mornings ago. He had stood at the foot of her stairs in the Heads' Common Room for a total of 27 minutes into breakfast before he finally gave up and ran through the castle to the Great Hall to scarf down whatever sausage and waffles were left. Then, when he caught her eye in class 13 minutes later, she looked away and busied herself with note-taking. When the bell rang, she was gone before anyone else had started packing up their belongings.

He managed to catch up to her in the hall, where he gripped her arm and pulled her toward him.

"Lil," he said softly, brushing the hair out of her face when she turned around in his grasp. "You didn't come down to breakfast this morning. I waited up for you."

Lily kept her gaze fixed on a spot behind James' head, and she kept her arms folded tightly around the book pressed against her chest. She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, and nodded as he spoke.

"Are you okay, love?" James asked, bringing a hand up to her neck and cupping the back of her head. He tenderly stroked her cheek with his thumb. "Lil?"

Lily released her bottom lip from her mouth as it began to tremble. Her emerald eyes clouded over as tears threatened to fall past her lids onto her cheeks, and when she became aware of that fact, she panicked, and jerked her arm out of James' grasp. She met his wide stare for a moment, and just as quickly as she had bolted from the classroom, she turned on her heel and disappeared from the corridor. But James had seen the first tear slip down her cheek, and he could only do one thing: he ran after her.

Two minutes later, when he had reached the Heads' Common Room, she was already in her room with the door shut. And that's where she stayed for the rest of day.

After that encounter, James decided to leave her alone for a short while. He wasn't sure what was wrong, or how to even deal with the prospect of an upset and remorseful girlfriend, so he thought it was wise to let her have her space in the meantime.

Now, James returned his attention to Sirius' question. "I dunno, Padfoot. She won't talk to me."

Remus cocked an eyebrow and countered, "You haven't tried to talk to her, mate."

James shot a quick glare at the werewolf. "She made it quite clear she'd rather be alone, didn't she?" He took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose, harder, in frustration. "I figured I'd give her space. Isn't that what girls always want?"

Sirius shrugged. "It's what they want you to _think_ they want."

"And what does that mean?" James replied, wanting nothing more than to find an answer to his girlfriend's behavior.

_Merlin_, he missed her.

Sirius took a hefty bite out of his chicken wing, and with a mouth full of meat, retorted, "Dunno, mate. Birds are confusing."

* * *

The next morning, James sat on the arm of the couch for 28 minutes. When he woke up, all he could think about was Lily and the single tear he had watched travel down her cheek that day after class. He felt desperate to resolve whatever was tearing at his girlfriend, so when she _still_ hadn't come down the stairs half past, James decided to take matters into his own hands.

He retrieved his broom from his room, mounted it, and flew up her flight of stairs. He hovered above the landing, and crossed his fingers as he reached out and twisted the doorknob. Releasing a sigh of relief when the door swung open, James flew into her room and landed beside her four-poster bed, which had the curtains closed. Dropping his broom to the floor, he slowly pulled the first curtain back, not wanting to startle or anger a sleeping Lily. But Lily wasn't in bed; the curtain on the other side of her bed was completely pulled back, and her pajama top and bottoms littered a path to the bathroom door.

James stepped back from her bed and began striding over to her bathroom door. As he passed her desk, a crumpled piece of parchment beside the moving photograph of Lily and her parents caught his eye. He stole a quick glance at the bathroom door, feeling guilty that he was about to blatantly snoop through her belongings. James rationalized his next decision by telling himself that the piece of parchment could be a bloody Prefects' schedule, for Merlin's sake, he wasn't doing anything _wrong_.

He pulled out her desk chair and sat down, picking up the crumbled parchment. It wasn't a Prefects' schedule: it was a letter, filled with neat and steady script, and signed by Petunia, Lily's sister. It appeared that Lily had fisted the letter in frustration, anger, sadness, when she had first received it, as James took the time to smoothen out some of the deeper crinkles. He faintly heard the shower turn on from the bathroom as he started to read.

_Lily,_

_I'm writing this letter to inform you that I am marrying Vernon. He proposed to me in September, after you left for school, and I said yes. He and I are getting married in June, and the wedding is taking place at the same venue at which Mum and Dad got married. Vernon's sister Margaret is my Maid of Honor._

_You are not in the wedding. I actually don't want you to attend at all, but Mum says I can't say that. But if decide to come, please know that I would have _preferred _you didn't come. Mum's told me about that freak you're dating, and if I can help it, I will have no freaks at my wedding—_YOU_ and your freak boyfriend, included._

_All I wanted was a nice wedding, Lily. No freaks and no freakshows. But once again, you have to ruin everything. Even though Mum says you're _invited_ to the wedding, does not mean you are _WELCOME_ at the wedding._

_Petunia_

James reread the letter before he, too, crumpled it viciously in his fist. _How _dare _she? Who the hell does Petunia think she is?_ He had never met her before, but he was glad he hasn't had to deal with her ignorant prejudice quite yet. Already, James had a feeling Lily intended to attend the wedding only to make a point, but that still didn't excuse her sister's harsh words. _Has Petunia always been that way toward Lily?_ James tried to remember a time when Lily had ever really spoken about Petunia, but he couldn't recall any details.

He chucked the letter into the rubbish bin, deciding that's where the offending parchment belonged. He cursed Petunia a few more times in his head before he stood up and continued his journey to the bathroom again.

Pushing his luck, James grasped the doorknob; the door opened, and he was instantly hit by a full cloud of hot steam. His glasses instantly fogged up, and he was reaching up to pull off his glasses when he heard it.

She was crying. Lily was whimpering, her cries muffled by the shower stream, as her breath hitched. James simultaneous felt his heart crack and shatter into a million tiny pieces. The ache in his chest caused his to rip off his clothes and throw his glasses to the corner of the room; he skidded over to the shower door, and pulling it open, let his blurry sight focus on the girl standing in front of him.

Lily was leaning against the back corner of the shower, her head tilted back and her cries choking out of her throat, when he first saw her. When she felt the draft and his heavy stare, she lowered her chin and stared back at him. She looked as though she wanted to reprimand him for intruding, but a sudden longing overtook her body. Almost immediately, she wanted nothing more than to feel his strong arms and comforting hold around every inch of her body; she had missed his safe, loving hugs, and seeing James stand there, a broken expression on his face, she couldn't help herself when she leapt at him like a lost child seeing her mother after days of searching.

James noticed her impulsive decision to throw herself at him, and he stumbled to catch her midway. She jumped up into his arms, and he caught her around her waist, and then moved his grasp to support her under her arse. Her arms wrapped tightly around his neck and her legs equally as purposeful around his middle. She laid her head on his shoulder and buried her face in the crook of his neck. He carried her back to the corner he found her in, and pressed hurried kisses to her shoulders and collarbone.

Lily was crying harder now. Her sobs reverberated against the tile of the shower, and her body shook with her emotion. She bellowed and whined, knotting her fingers in his hair and brushing her nose and open mouth against his jawline and earlobe. He felt her hot tears drop against his bare shoulder, and he kept whispering in her ear, "I'm here, love. You're okay, Lil, I'm here."

Her cries began to subside, and she struggled to catch her breath. When she spoke, she hiccupped, saying, "W-why is s-s-she so…s-so_ cruel_..." And the thought of her sister broke the early dam Lily had begun constructing, as she gripped his hair more forcefully and let out another heart-breaking sob.

James continued to whisper in her ear—"I love you, Lily, I love you, I love you,"—and kissed her neck over and over. He also couldn't fight the aching burn in his arms any longer, so he slowly started lowering her to her feet.

Lily untangled her fingers from the hair at the nape of his neck, and loosened her hold around his neck and shoulders. She placed her feet on the cool tile of the shower floor, and tried to control her shaky legs. James held a tight grip on her hips to steady her.

She peered up at him and hiccupped twice. "I'm…I'm sad, James." Silent tears still emptied out of her eyes, sliding down her wet cheeks and teetering off the end of her chin, before breaking loose and joining the draining swirl at the base of the shower.

James stepped closer toward her and brought his hands up to cup her face. He stroked away some of the lingering tears from her cheekbones, and then moved his hands further back to lace through her wet tangles, pulling her neck taunt against his chest. He placed his forehead against hers and kissed the tip of her nose tenderly.

"I know, love," he whispered, "I'm sad, too. I…I can't stand to see you like this."

Lily wrapped her arms around his waist, securing him close against her own body. Her feet stood together in between his two spread. He tightened his grasp in her hair, and shifted his forehead to rest against the side of her head, as he led her back into the crook of his neck.

"Is this my fault, James?" Lily asked, her voice barely above a whisper and cracking.

James kissed her temple. "No, love. It's not your fault that God chose for you to be a witch."

Lily nodded limply.

"And," James added, stroking her wet hair lovingly, "I'm proud of you for what you've done with it, Lil. You're an amazing witch. My amazing witch."

He felt Lily smile against his chest, but she didn't say anything. She squeezed her arms tighter around his waist and kissed the underside of his chin. "I love you," she murmured.

James looked down at her, smiling as he noticed the light that had been missing for the past few days return to her emerald eyes. She looked radiant, the steam from the hot water rising and snaking around her body, her deep auburn hair caught between his fingers, and her cheeks flush from crying.

"You're beautiful." It was what James had thought, but it slipped past his lips unconsciously. Lily's smile widened and she lifted to her tiptoes to press a small peck against his lips.

She turned in his arms, smirking, and reached for the shampoo. "Care to help out your amazing witch?"


End file.
